Daniel Murphy takes blame for Mets’ Game 4 loss but plenty of others at fault as team falls into 3-1 World Series hole

Daniel Murphy's error is the most glaring mistake of Game 4, but the finger shouldn't solely be pointed at him. (Howard Simmons/New York Daily News)

At his locker, Daniel Murphy couldn't have been more blunt about a play that changed his magical October in the most horrifying of ways.

"I misplayed it, there's no excuse for it," he said. "And we lost the game because of it."

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That summed it up rather succinctly.

And while it's only fair to point out the Mets probably wouldn't be in this World Series if not for Murphy's historic slugging against the Dodgers and Cubs, as David Wright pointed out repeatedly late Saturday night, it doesn't change the obvious:

Murphy's eighth-inning error on a rather routine ground ball is likely to be remembered as clearly as his Babe Ruth-like home-run binge if the Mets go on and lose this World Series to the Royals.

That seems more likely than not now, after a 5-3 loss in Game 4 leaves them down 3-1 in the Series, meaning the Mets would have to win three straight games, including the last two in Kansas City, to change the script.

The worst part for the Mets is that to some extent they have to feel as if they're giving this World Series away with self-inflicted wounds they knew would be deadly against a team as sound as the Royals.

The Mets' scouting report, in fact, stressed that point: you can't give them extra outs or they'll make you pay dearly. Right now those words are haunting them because mistakes are killing them.

Terry Collins admitted the obvious during his post-game press conference, saying, "When you allow good teams extra opportunities they're going to beat you, and the Royals are a good team."

In truth, Murphy's error was not all that shocking because his sub-par defense can rear its head at any moment, but considering the October he was having, you just didn't expect it in such a crucial moment.

At the time, the Mets were in trouble anyway, mostly because Collins continues to give the ball to Tyler Clippard in important late-inning situations, and that in itself is a different kind of mistake.

Collins is having a heck of a postseason, making all the right moves for the most part, but he has shown too much faith in keeping Clippard, who has struggled with his command for weeks now, as his eighth-inning guy.

This time it was two walks in the eighth inning, as the Mets clung to a 3-2 lead. And at that point, with one out in the eighth, Collins went to Jeurys Familia. The manager said he was hoping to avoid using Familia for extra outs, wanting to have him available for Game 5.

Ok, but he could have let Bartolo Colon, who came on for a big out to end the sixth inning, pitch the seventh and have Addison Reed pitch the eighth. Reed has looked much sharper than Clippard in his recent outings.

Yoenis Cespedes is not only struggling at the plate, but his baserunning blunder is costly and secures a Royals win. (Howard Simmons/New York Daily News)

In any case, we'll never know what might have happened had Murphy made the play on the slow ground ball from Eric Hosmer. The worst part about the error is that he didn't need to try and one-hand it on the run, but had time to use both hands and make sure.

"I should have used two hands," he admitted afterward.

If he had made the play, the Royals would have had the tying and go-ahead runs on second and third with two outs, and who knows how that changes the inning. As it was, Familia gave up another hit — but only because Murphy was shaded toward second to be in double-play depth — and suddenly it was 5-3.

In the end there was no getting around the obvious: as Murphy, a stand-up guy on a brutal night, said, it was his fault. But in this series he's had a lot of company.